SXSW 2019: SNATCHERS Review – An ‘80s Throwback
Starring Mary Nepi, Gabrielle Elyse, Austin Fryberger
Written by Stephen Cedars, Benji Kleiman, Scott Yacyshyn
Directed by Stephen Cedars, Benji Kleiman
Pregnancy and birth have long been staples of the horror genre, exploring the fundamentally scary nature of having an extra body growing inside of your own. There is also the idea of the ‘Final Girl’ and how countless horror movies have done the act of sex into an instant death sentence. From Alien and all its pregnancy imagery, to recently It Follows. This year there is a new film trying to enter the canon of horror films with something to say about pregnancy, as Snatchers debuted at SXSW and dares to ask, “Is being pregnant worse than losing your social status in high school?”
Snatchers is based on a short film and later a micro-series that premiered at Sundance in 2017. With the same cast, this feature-length version expands on both stories.
Mary Nepi stars as Sara, a girl who just found herself a seat at the cool kids table, but in order to keep her new social status she’s had shoulder her geeky best friend Hayley (Gabrielle Elyse), and is doing everything she can to win back her hot ex-boyfriend Skyler (Austin Fryberger). He says his priorities changed, but Sara knows he just won’t talk to her unless they have sex. So can Sara do but wait until her mom isn’t home, and hooks up with his dumb ex. Only one problem though, they don’t use a condom, and the next day Sara wakes up not only pregnant but nine months deep, with a funny gag of a pregnancy test happy face bleeding down until it becomes a bloody frown. Oh, and she also gives birth shortly after to a murderous arachnid pregnancy parasite that may or may not be as ancient as the Aztecs, and may or may not have infected Skyler when he went on vacation to Mexico and came back super horny.
Co-directors Stephen Cedars and Benji Kleiman wear their influences on their sleeve, as Snatchers definitely feels like “Mean Girls meets Critters” with a little of Joe Dante sprinkled in, and a Slither cherry on top. The film has buckets of gore, and Chris Hanson’s effects department did a wonderful job creating prosthetics, and a tangible, mostly practical creature that absolutely does the trick whenever we close up on its terrifying little face. The creatures in Snatchers may not have as long a shelf-life as the gremlins or the critters, but it is definitely fun to see the little monsters jump off counters, ceilings, keg taps trying to find the next human to control, leading up to an explosive and bloody third act that is all kinds of fun.
Unfortunately, Snatchers isn’t as scary as its premise suggests, or as sharp as it intends to be, its commentary on the cultural dynamics around teenage sex and pregnancy are never as clever as the movie thinks they are – but it still delivers a fun time at the movies and an entertaining riff on high school movies. There are clichés galore, especially concerning every stereotype imaginable, but watching Sara’s concerns being split down the middle between the impending apocalypse that her offspring may bring, and the chance she will be judged for her pregnancy and kicked out of the cool kids’ table will make the theater implode with laughter.
Snatchers may not end up being one of the great horror comedies of the decade, but that is fine. What we end up with is a weird, silly, goofy and fun movie that riffs on enough tropes and movies to keep you entertained.
-
Snatchers
Summary
Snatchers may not join the ranks of great horror movies about pregnancy, but there’s enough gore and laughs to keep you entertained.
Categorized:Reviews
